8x10 Thasveer

We all know directors like Maniratnam, Ramgopal Varma, Priyadarshan etc who are prominent in hindi film field also. Another south Indian to join the group through some notable films is Nagesh Kukunoor. Though born and brought up in Hyderabad and Chennai, the only thing that distinguishes him from others is that he has not taken a single movie in any of the South Indian languages. But he has given films like ‘Hyderabad Blues’, ‘3 Deewarein’, ‘Iqbal’, ‘Dor’ etc.

Through his debut film ‘Hyderabad Blues’, in which he acted also, the film maker caught attention of the critics. He has also given a murder mystery like ‘3 Deewarein’, ‘Iqbal’ was a highly motivated subject based on cricket and its political plays, which can be rated as his best work so far, ‘Dor’ was based on the malayalam movie, ‘Perumazhakkalam’, Now he has given his latest movie ‘8x10 Thasveer’, acted by Akshay Kumar, Ayisha Takia, Javed Jafri, Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Anand Mahadevan etc.

‘8x10 Thasveer’ is based on a murder. The hero is in search of the cause of accident happened to his father while traveling in a boat. The people who accompanied his father were questioned. Along with the police, a private detective (Javed Jaffry) and the son (Akshay Kumar) himself conducts enquiry. Here the director had given something unusual for the main character. He is having the super natural power to use the black magic in a different form. In the sense, when he goes through a person’s image in a photograph (Thasveer), he will be able to see the incidents happening to the particular person related to the image in the past. He can do this dangerous experiment which can be lasted for a minute. In this way how he finds a solution for the murder is told here.

The story of the film produced by Percept Pictures happens in the abroad. The European area is covered in an excellent manner; the color of some visuals can even felt like watching an English movie. The suspense as usual needed for such a movie is maintained well by the director. Akshaykumar and Ayisha Takia have performed well. It is good to see Sharmila Tagore and Girish Karnad after a long gap. Javed Jaffri comes in the role of an officer which is stiff always. Salim-Sulaiman had given a good background score.

Since the investigation doesn’t goes as in the usual films, there is every possibility for having lag in some scenes. If you are ready to tolerate the super natural power theme (non physical) owned by the hero, then you can watch a different movie a good suspense. It is the style of the director that made the film slow; otherwise the output would have been another fast paced one.

‘8x10 Thasveer’ is a different experience. It is like a marathon game where the finishing point is more interesting when compared to the rest of the path.

Rating : 3.5 / 5